Anxiety and the Spirit of Rejection (against which we all struggle)
As I was reading and praying over Genesis 1 and 2 upon which I based my last post on ‘being made in the image of God’, I came across a very strange passage in Genesis 4. This chapter is about Cain, the elder brother, and his younger brother, Abel (contrast this with the elder and younger brothers in the Prodigal parable, Luke 15). Recall that both brought an offering to God; Abel’s was accepted but Cain’s was rejected. As a result “Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast” (Genesis 4: 5 NIV). Then God told Cain:
“But if you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door. It desires to have you, but you must master it” (Genesis 4: 7 NIV).
“If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it” (Genesis 4:7 NKJV).
Two translations of the same verses. The word ‘sin’ in these translations, according to the study notes in both bibles, personifies ‘sin’ as a demon crouching at the door of a building to threaten those inside. In this context, it refers to a demon waiting by the door, like a wild animal, waiting to pounce on Cain to devour him. This reminds me of 1 Peter 5: 8,9 “Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him.”
The mysteries for me of this passage are first: that if I do what is right I will be accepted by God, and second: there are demons that are prowling around, looking to devour me and I have to rule over them. Both of these admonitions make it sound like I have the power to a) make myself acceptable to God by doing what is right and b) that I can rule over or master in my power the demons trying to take me down. Neither one of these interpretations is consistent with the rest of scripture, so I believe that what God is telling me through these words spoken to Cain is that if I have real faith — the faith that leans on God with my entire human personality — and do not doubt, I can do amazing things, including walking in acceptance by God and ruling over the darkness, because Jesus is doing these things with and within me. In my mind these are one of the first passages in scripture that point toward Jesus, the savior. But, and this is a big ‘but’, I have to act, I have to rule, I have to resist. I think God is saying “I will do it for you, but you must do it with Me”. Or, maybe “You must do it, and I will do it with you.” I have to participate. If I don’t, it won’t get done. And faith is the key.
The passages in Genesis 4 do not say why God rejected Cain’s offering (and in Cain’s eyes rejected him) and accepted Abel’s offering (and in Cain’s eyes preferred Abel over Cain, the source of Cain’s anxiety, jealousy, and murderous anger). But Hebrews 11: 4 sheds some light on God’s decision. “By faith Abel offered God a better sacrifice than Cain did” (NIV). Apparently Abel brought the sacrifice as a gift to God, reflecting a heart of humility and devotion. Cain brought his sacrifice as a formality, in much the same way that many bring a tithe to church. We are told it is what God wants, so we do it just to be on the safe side of God. In other words, Abel found his acceptance in his faith in God; Cain found his acceptance in his faith in himself and the gift he brought to God reflected a religious spirit rather than true devotion — so his gift was rejected, which he interpreted to mean he was rejected. And rejection or the fear of rejection is the root of anxiety.
In this story we see the entire history of the human race played out. It boils down to this: where do we look for acceptance — in our devotion, faith, and relationship with God; or in our own work and what the world offers us. In the Kingdom of God (Abel) or the kingdom of self (Cain). Much of the truly good in this world come out of the former, much of the truly evil come out of the latter.
It wasn’t that God was rejecting Cain, although that is how he perceived it. God was instructing Cain about how to make his gift acceptable to God — do the right thing and, by the way, you need to rule over the demon who is waiting to devour you. Instruction and warning. God is showing grace toward Cain, but the spirit of rejection in Cain’s heart is too strong — he ‘hears’ the wrong message, gives in to the spirit, the demon ‘devours’ him, and Cain murders Abel.
So, where did this spirit of rejection (which is the reason why God told Cain he could be accepted if he did the right thing — because God knew Cain felt rejected) come from. To find out we need to back up to Genesis 3. And to make this relevant to us, we need to understand that Adam is considered by scripture to be an archetype — all humanity is embodied in Adam, we have all participated in his acts, and are all under the same condemnation as Adam because of his actions. What did Adam do and what were the consequences of his actions?
Of course, Adam and Eve chose to disobey God — they ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil — contrary to God’s instructions. As a result Adam experienced 4 stages of rejection. First, Adam rejected God by willfully disobeying Him. Second, Adam rejected himself. He covered himself with fig leaves because of his shame — shame is a manifestation of self-rejection. Third, he developed the fear of rejection. He hid from God, telling God he was afraid because of his nakedness, but really because of his disobedience. Fourth, Adam rejected others: Eve, God, and the serpent. “The woman You put here with me” and blames everyone else, including God, but himself.
God removes Adam and Eve from the garden and blocks their way back in with angels and a flaming sword. I am sure Adam felt his rejection was complete, although God did this for Adam’s own good. Now Adam carried with him in his spiritual DNA a spirit of rejection which includes rejection of self (unworthiness, shame, and guilt), rejection of God (requiring him to find his acceptance in his own power in the world), the fear of rejection (leading to ‘man’s desire to be honored by men’, anxiety, perfectionism, deceit, and other idols and sins), and the rejection of fellow human beings (leading to jealousy, covetousness, hatred, and, of course, murder). The spirit of rejection in the DNA of Adam, the human archetype, now becomes part of humanities’ DNA, including you and me. We see the result of this defilement of the image of God everyday as we look at the world around us (and within us). We see this reality explained in Genesis 5.
We read in Genesis 5: 1-3:
When God created man, He made him in the likeness of God. He created them male and female, and blessed them. And when they were created, He called them “man” (male + female = “male” or mankind). When Adam had lived 130 years, he had a son in his own likeness, in his own image; and he named him Seth.”
Now, through Seth the imperfect image and likeness of Adam, superimposed on the perfect image of God, is passed on to all humanity.
I assume, although is it not necessarily so, that Cain and Abel, were also made in the image and likeness of Adam. Adam was made in the image and likeness of God. That is irrevocable. But now he has another ‘layer’, that covers, obscures, and hides the image of God. That other layer is the spirit of rejection. Humankind acquired these two competing images: the image of God and the defiling image of Adam, the image of the spirit of rejection. We have both the DNA of God (or Jesus) and the DNA of Adam.
The truth is that every human being deeply yearns for acceptance. I suppose this is tied to our need to worship (or vice versa). Probably because we carry the image of God in each one of us, there is a place in our hearts that cries out to be connected with the transcendent, the divine. This primal need or urge is the need to be accepted by our heavenly Father, although most of us would not express this need in these words. Yet, if we are honest all of us would agree that the need to be accepted and valued drives our lives at many levels. It is an ultimate force defining how we live. The lack of acceptance, or the threat of the lack of acceptance, is the root of human anxiety and much human evil.
One of the most primal idolatries is ‘man’s desire to be honored by men”. Mens honor is mens acceptance. If I do everything right, also known as perfectionism, you will have no grounds to reject me. If I amass wealth and power, I set myself so high above others that their rejection cannot hurt me; I have built a fortress. Many escape rejection and the fear of rejection through drugs, alcohol, pornography, and other forms of self-gratification. Performance at work, in school, or in many of our other roles provides a strong form of self-acceptance and to some extent insulates us from the rejection of the world. The list is endless. Underlying each of these paths to self-acceptance is the anxiety of rejection. And none of these pathways ultimately lead to the type of acceptance each of us needs. In fact, they will never provide acceptance at all — at best the illusion of acceptance. They can never protect or insulate us from the demon who is crouching at our door. They open the door to the demon, because in our own power we are ‘powerless’ to shut him out. They lead to death.
None of these ideas are new. But for me, they form a framework or context within which I can better understand my relationship with God and why Jesus needs to be the center of my life. As I live in the Kingdom of God in intimate relationship with King Jesus, I can begin to understand the salvation that God extended to Cain when he instructed and warned him. Salvation — to be healed and made whole — is the true acceptance by the only One who can truly accept us. That One is Jesus. When we live ‘in Christ’ we live in the sphere of his activity, presence, and love (i.e. His Kingdom). In Christ we daily receive the Father’s love, the Father’s blessing, the Father’s power, and the Father’s peace, joy, and hope. We know the Father and the Father knows us. And we know, without doubt, that we are accepted. In this life I have the ability, in Christ, to do the right things to be accepted. These things are simple — receive and participate in the gifts of repentance and faith. Christ on the cross has done all the hard work to make me acceptable to God. In Christ (and only in Christ, i.e. as I live in the Kingdom of God) I have power to overcome demonic forces. In Christ, I have been restored to that relationship with God that Adam and Eve had before they disobeyed. The shame tied to the sins of the past is forgotten, I am healed in the present, and I can look toward the future free of anxiety and fear.
All of this is what I believe Paul had in mind when he wrote these powerful and timeless words:
“Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit (I would say in the Kingdom of God) have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God“.
“You, however are controlled not by the sinful nature, but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives sin you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies, through the Spirit who live sin you” (Romans 8: 5-11 NIV).
“The mind of sinful man is death” — this is the mind of the man living in the kingdom of self. “The mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace” — this is the mind of the man living in the Kingdom of God, bearing the image of God to the world. These are the two choices that all humanity must make: will you live the life of Cain or will you live the life of Abel (or will you live the life of the rich, young ruler vs the life of Bartimaeus in Mark 10 or the life of the elder brother vs the younger brother in Luke 15 — same choices). Most of us who are in-Christ live somewhere in between — but desiring for Christ to continue to perfect our hearts.
Jesus gives life, which is rooted in His acceptance of us, if His Spirit lives in us. His Spirit living in us is one of the Father’s gifts to us as we choose to enter into and live in His Kingdom. We do this as we reject life in the kingdom of self, which is finding our acceptance in our own work and power. We cry out “Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me” and approach Him with the confidence and faith that we can never be good enough on our own to enter His kingdom nor bad enough to be denied entrance. It takes a child-like faith in Jesus, leaning on and trusting Him; receiving the love of the Father, and a desire, manifested in a repentant heart, to leave behind the life of striving, shame, failure, and loneliness. The life of rejection. As we cry out for Jesus to enter into the dark places that need to be cleansed in His love and light, we might also need to be delivered from those crouching demons that entered into our hearts during those times of self-deception and a self-centered life. The Spirit of Christ will join us in this battle as we rule over the darkness in our lives.
As we live with Christ in the Kingdom of God, not perfectly or completely every day but intentionally, persistently, and with great expectations of God’s grace, mercy, and transforming power “we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us”.
Hallelujah
Grace and peace,
John